It’s been upset city so far in the NBA Playoffs, with home teams currently sitting at 0-5 in the second-round.
It’s unclear if that trend will continue tonight. What is clear is that you’ll need to save some salary in your lineup to balance out all the big names. Allow me to help. Here are my top DFS value picks for Wednesday’s slate.
Set your DraftKings fantasy basketball lineups here: NBA $400K Shootaround [$100K to 1st]
PG/SG Payton Pritchard, Boston Celtics vs. New York Knicks, $4,200
When it comes to value in this specific series, I’d still rather take my chances with Pritchard than an asset like Miles McBride ($3,100). Aside from the obvious ceiling Pritchard provides — he’s the current NBA Sixth Man of the Year award winner for a reason — the Celtics simply seem like the team more willing to involve their bench. Look no further than Mikal Bridges ($5,900) logging 51.0 minutes in Game 1 for Tom Thibodeau. Pritchard’s been somewhat invisible since dropping 19 points in Game 1 of Boston’s series with Orlando, yet he was slightly better on Monday, with 13 points, three rebounds and 18.75 FPTS. The Celtics missed 45 three-pointers in Game 1. At his best, Pritchard should help improve the team’s efficiency, as the guard shot 40.7% from distance during the regular season on 7.8 attempts per contest. The fact that Pritchard’s salary has fallen $2,000 since the beginning of the postseason doesn’t hurt his viability, either.
PG/SG Alex Caruso, Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Denver Nuggets, $4,300
It feels like people might’ve forgotten about Alex Caruso a little bit. Honestly, given his regular season in his first campaign in Oklahoma City, it’s a fair thing to have happen. Caruso only suited up for 54 games in 2024-25 and, on the league’s deepest roster, the veteran took a back seat and saw his production dip from where it had been in Chicago. Still, Caruso wasn’t acquired to be good in the regular season. He was acquired to shine in the playoffs — and that’s exactly what he’s done so far. In a heartbreaking loss in Game 1 on Monday, Caruso led the Thunder’s bench in minutes (26.2), while he also was the lone player offering a consistent secondary scoring effort alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ($9,600). When it was all said and done, Caruso finished with 20 points, six assists, five steals and 45.75 FPTS. It’s unlikely the veteran wing will reach those heights again in DFS in this series, but Caruso has exceeded 30 FPTS in three of his last four contests. He’s a primetime player and Mark Daigneault should continue to lean on the 31-year-old the deeper in the postseason we get.
